Two Monday Night Football games and a Thursday Night Football game are the highlights of the 2023 NFL season for the Los Angeles Chargers. With two early stretches consisting of two road games in a row and two home games in a row, the Chargers have a tough schedule.
Justin Herbert, Austin Ekeler, Keenen Allen, and Mike Williams welcome in first-round rookie Quentin Johnston to their skill player group, making an already-dangerous unit even more lethal. Even with Ekeler’s off-season trade request, this team looks to be locked and loaded for another postseason appearance.
Last year’s meteoric collapse to the Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC Wild Card round certainly left a sour taste in the mouth of the Chargers, and this season they are out to make sure that outcome was just a fluke. Let’s take a game-by-game look at their schedule and see how their season will play out.
Week 1 vs Miami Dolphins
A very tough home opener awaits the Chargers, as they welcome in Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins. Miami lost tight end Mike Gesicki but added cornerback Jalen Ramsey, and with Tagovailoa hopefully healthy, this may end up being an early-season shootout.
Even though they are at home, the Chargers likely won’t be huge favorites, and they probably shouldn’t be. LOSS
Week 2 @ Tennessee Titans
Their first road game of the year has the Chargers traveling east to Tennessee, where the Titans are still figuring out who their starting quarterback is going to be in 2023. Will it be veteran incumbent Ryan Tannehill, last year’s draft pick Malik Willis, or 2023 second-rounder Will Levis?
There are a lot of question marks surrounding the Titans, who were ultimately left out of the playoff picture after their late-season collapse, and this team still has a lot of holes that need to be filled. WIN
Week 3 @ Minnesota Vikings
LAC’s lone two-game road trip of the year sees the Chargers travel up north into Skol Country to play the Minnesota Vikings. Kirk Cousins now has Justin Jefferson, T.J. Hockenson, and rookie Jordan Addison to throw to, but questions still surround the future of Dalvin Cook and if his large contract will still be on the books in Minnesota.
The Chargers will be tested here, and this could very well be a trap game if they don’t give the Vikings the right amount of respect. But a suspect MIN defense could act like a sieve for Herbert to tear apart, so the Chargers should have their first winning streak of 2023. WIN
Week 4 vs Las Vegas Raiders
The Chargers and the Las Vegas Raiders match up for an early-season divisional game, the first meeting between these two teams with Jimmy Garoppolo as the QB in Vegas (provided he is healthy). With Derek Carr now with the Saints, the keys have been handed to Garoppolo, who strung together enough work with the 49ers to earn another big-money contract.
If the Chargers want to hang tough with the Kansas City Chiefs this year and vie for the AFC West divisional crown, then taking care of divisional matchups early in the year is crucial. WIN
Week 5 BYE
Week 6 vs Dallas Cowboys
The sneaky team that is the Dallas Cowboys travel out west to face the Chargers in a game that will see offensive coordinator Kellen Moore face his former team for the first time. A high-flying offensive attack, led by CeeDee Lamb and Tony Pollard, will pose a problem for LAC’s defense, especially if Dak Prescott gets time in the pocket.
Surprisingly enough, this game ranks high on the scale for an early-season shootout, which would be the second one for the Chargers so far. The Cowboys are known for being a very streaky team, and this could be a bad time for Los Angeles to host them. LOSS
Week 7 @ Kansas City Chiefs
There certainly is never a ‘good time’ to face Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, which menas this could be a tough game for the Chargers. As long as Mahomes has his good friend Travis Kelce to throw to, this offense is very difficult to stop.
The biggest aspect working in LAC’s favor is the lack of proven weapons (outside of Kelce) in the KC offense. Kadarius Toney, Skyy Moore, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling make up the top three wide receivers for the Chiefs, and none of these names are very scary. However, it is still the Chiefs, and they likely will be hitting their mid-season groove. LOSS
Week 8 vs Chicago Bears
Hosting the Chicago Bears and Justin Fields could make for must-see TV in Week 8, but expecting this game to be very close is not reasonable – at least based on what we know the Bears to be currently.
Who knows – maybe Fields hits his stride with the coaching staff and form a great combination with DJ Moore. Possible, but not necessarily very likely. WIN
Week 9 @ New York Jets
Herbert facing off with Aaron Rodgers out east should be great to watch, but what could be even more exciting to watch is seeing the battle between the Jets' defense and the Chargers' offense.
Oddly enough, even with these two superstar QBs, this game just has the feel of a defensive showdown more than anything, but the Chargers have enough offensive talent to overcome the strong defense of the Jets. WIN
Week 10 vs Detroit Lions
It truly is a blessing that the AFC West gets to face off with the NFC North division this year, giving fans games like the Chargers vs the Lions. Could Detroit fall flat after barely missing the playoffs last year – yes. But they could also build upon last year’s success.
There should be more shoot-outs this year than normal, just because of how many teams are investing more resources into their offense versus their defense – and this game could become a high-scoring affair, but one that the Chargers should win. WIN
Week 11 @ Green Bay Packers
The fourth matchup with the NFC North division sees the Chargers travel to Green Bay in the winter in what could be a very entertaining game. In Jordan Love’s first year as the starter, it will be interesting to see how far along he has come through 11 weeks of the NFL season.
But expecting Love and the Packers to roll over in this game is not accurate, even if they are going through a ‘retooling’ period. Expect an LA win, but this game should be circled for Upset Watch. WIN
Week 12 vs Baltimore Ravens
Nothing easy about playing the Baltimore Ravens, especially with Lamar Jackson back in the fold. But with new offensive coordinator Todd Monken introducing a heavier passing element into the offense, look for Jackson to take off.
Pair Jackson and his new wide receiver group (OBJ, Rashod Bateman, Zay Flowers) with their still-vaunted defense, and you have the makings of a tough home loss for the Chargers. LOSS
Week 13 @ New England Patriots
Sometimes with a team, it is more about the coach and their gameplan than how the players execute it – just ask the New England Patriots.
Mac Jones is apparently still the starter for Bill Belichick, but with Matt Patricia out, hopefully, Bill O’Brien can help restart this below-average unit. On paper, the Patriots are far from a contending team in the AFC – but sometimes playing a late-season game in Foxborough does things to teams… LOSS
Week 14 vs Denver Broncos
Not having faced the Denver Broncos until Week 14 is an odd season structure for the Chargers, and at this time we should know how well Russell Wilson and Sean Payton are gelling.
Optimistically, the combination is doing well and it looks like Wilson is finally back on track to a few years back when he was regularly in the MVP conversation in Seattle. But in order to get off their two-game skid, the Chargers needed to play an average team, and Denver fits the bill. WIN
Week 15 @ Las Vegas Raiders
Four of the final five games of the 2023 NFL season for the Chargers are against divisional opponents, and Week 15 sees the second matchup between the Chargers and the Raiders occur.
Thinking that the Raiders are still in the playoff hunt may be quite the optimistic thinking style, but with how tough the AFC West and the AFC are as a whole, it leans more towards the Chargers taking the season series. WIN
Week 16 vs Buffalo Bills
Two of their final three games of the season should be absolute bangers, and Week 16 at home versus the Buffalo Bills shouldn’t disappoint. There is no need to talk about Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs because you already know how good they are, but know this – they are GOOD good.
The defense is still the question for Buffalo, and losing Tremaine Edmunds this off-season certainly makes that even worse – but the Bills are the closest you will get to being unstoppable on offense (after the Chiefs), making this a hard-fought loss. LOSS
Week 17 @ Denver Broncos
Having played the Broncos twice in the span of four games means that both opponents will be very familiar with each other. Expecting a surprising Denver win here to sour LAC’s playoff chances is fair, but that’s not the school of thought being used here.
Instead, the Chargers will likely be fighting for a spot in the playoffs heading into this week, so they will do whatever they can to make sure that happens. WIN
Week 18 vs Kansas City Chiefs
It is a fair expectation for the Chiefs to have wrapped up the top seed in the AFC at this point, or have at least earned the highest seed they possibly can heading into Week 18. That, combined with the Chargers likely still fighting for postseason seeding, could turn this into a game of starters versus backups.
It would be a sweet end to LAC's regular season, especially when you look at what kind of lifetime record Herbert has against the Chiefs. WIN
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